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Quote:
Originally Posted by eagle
I saw someone so proud of their seat belts in an A. Made a bracket that mounted to the frame that the seat belts fastened to. I guess I'd not like to be in a wreck and be the piece of meat between the body and the frame, as that's what he had made himself. Most of the contraptions I've seen make me happy with my no-seat-belt A. I'm not against them, but just make sure they are well thought out. (maybe a fighter jet ejection seat?  ) |
Exactly!! Since my son designs & builds race cars, I probably think about things differently than others do however in this situation lets just think about some things before decisions are made.
To begin with, when a passenger gets into a Model-A that has seat belts added, they take for granted the safety restraints in that vehicle will protect them. Most people would never have any reason to question it. If you look at the location of the Quarter Pillar, it is almost even with -or actually in front of the occupant's shoulder. In a collision situation when this happens, there is little restraint of the shoulder since it is not holding the occupant from forward motion. At that point, its all about hoping no one gets a neck or a back broken. Additionally, the Sills are a pressed shape of 16 gauge that most people do not even install the repair panels on the quarters correctly. Therefore the sills will buckle in an accident when a sudden 15-20 Gs of force are introduced during impact.
So while I am not recommending installing safety restraints, ....something that might help in a 3-point harness situation is to consider plating the inside of the quarter panel over the rear ¼-window with 0.250" thick plate and weld it to the inside of the quarter panel sheemetal. This would allow the mounting point to be rearward of the front seat occupant. Additionally, the lower Sills on the body need to be replaced. Form 2"x3"x.120" wall tubing that would be substituted where the infrastructure will be strong enough to hold the lap belts during an impact, and also be strong enough to remain fastened to the vehicle frame during the impact. For those of us who have inspected crashed Model-As, generally the body does not stay firmly attached to the frame during the impact.